


carpe that diem

by seren_ccd



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: I Don't Even Know, M/M, This escalated quickly, use latin responsibly kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 22:43:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13511286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seren_ccd/pseuds/seren_ccd
Summary: “Just the last bit,” Amanda said outright laughing.  “You do know the ladies’ room is next door?  If you don’t want everyone to know that your kink is Latin legal terms, keep it in your pants the next time.  Carpe your diem elsewhere.”Sonny takes a moment to recover from an interrogation and Barba helps.  Latin is involved and Amanda is amused.  Pre-relationship. Very pre-relationship.





	carpe that diem

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this came out of nowhere. Enjoy! All of the Latin terms came straight from this page on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_legal_terms

_“...there's nothing quite like Latin for disguising the fact that you're making it up as you go along.”_ **Ben Aaronovitch, Foxglove Summer**

* * *

“ _A fortiori, a posteriori, a priori, ab extra, ab initio_ ,” Sonny muttered, as he hung his head over the sink, droplets of water dripping off his nose and jaw from where he’d splashed it roughly with water. 

The image of the victim, Steven Potts, age five, flashed behind his eyes, his small arms littered with black and purple bruises.

Sonny splashed more water on his face. “ _Actus reus, ad hoc, ad hominem, ad inem_.”

Now his mind flashed with the image of the perp in the interrogation room as Carisi (because he wasn’t always ‘Sonny’ in the interrogation room, he was Detective Carisi) played the part of an understanding guy. 

_Sometimes things got out of hand,_ he’d said. _Sometimes, it just happened. You tell kids one thing and they do another,_ he’d said. _You tell them to keep a secret and when they don’t, sometimes they gotta be punished,_ he’d said. 

With each and every sympathetic excuse, he’d watched as the perp’s tension leaked away and finally the man agreed with Carisi. 

_“...ad infinitum, ad litem, ad quod damnum...”_

The perp had bought it. He’d bought the act hook, line, and sinker and confessed. He’d confessed with a god damn smile on his face. While part of Detective Carisi was glad that he’d managed to plumb the depths of the perp’s depravity to find the right button, Sonny felt pretty god damn terrible. 

_“...ad valorum, animus nocendi, animus revertendi...”_

__Sonny closed his eyes and breathed in slow for five and then out for five. He did it again. In for five. Out for five._ _

_“...lex specialis derogat legi generali; leges humanae nascuntur, vivunt, moriuntur…_ ” 

"That’s one of my favorites,” a voice said from just inside the bathroom door. 

__Sonny jerked his head up, and spotted Barba looking at him with something like understanding mixed with a smidge of concern. Just a smidge, naturally._ _

“I always liked _cuius est solum eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos_ ,” Sonny said wiping the excess water off his face and cringing at the damp spots on his collar. 

__“Ah, yes. Obscure idioms about property ownership referencing heaven and hell. You would,” Barba said, but without any actual heat or snark. “They’ve taken him down to holding. He won’t get bail.”_ _

__“Be a sad day in the world if he did,” Sonny said._ _

__Barba just nodded and headed to a urinal. Sonny turned on the faucet again and actually washed his hands with care this time, singing Old MacDonald in his head like he’d been taught by a med student ex of his long ago. He finished as Barba did and he nodded to the other man and headed towards the door._ _

__“It was a good confession, Carisi,” Barba said as he switched the facets on, stopping him. Sonny looked at him, turning all the way around, giving the man his full attention, because you didn’t half-ass conversations with Barba._ _

__Sonny nodded. “Yeah, uh, it went better than I thought it would. But I hit a nerve, I guess.”_ _

__“Don’t,” Barba said, turning off the faucet with a fair amount of force; he’d washed for the length of an Old Macdonald verse, too, Sonny noticed. “Don’t do that.”_ _

__“Do what?”_ _

__“Play down what you did,” he said ripping the paper towels from the dispenser before facing Sonny. “You got a cagey man to admit to the abuse and kidnapping of a young boy and you did it by finding his weak spot and applying just the right amount of pressure to get him to fold. It was good, Carisi.”_ _

__Sonny felt his face flush and almost thanked him when he noticed that Barba seemed almost hesitant, his mouth still parted as if he was about to speak further. Sonny cocked his head to the side._ _

“There’s a ‘but’, isn’t there?” he prompted. “Yeah, it was a good confession, _but_... what?” 

__Barba looked him in the eyes. “How deep did you have to go into yourself to get there?”_ _

__Sonny froze. The urge to breathe in and out for five returned._ _

__“Deep enough,” he said with far less confidence than he wanted._ _

__“That’s what I thought,” Barba said._ _

__Irritation lashed through Sonny and before he could stop himself (and completely aware that Barba wouldn’t back down in the face of Sonny’s raised voice), he said, “It’s what I do, Counselor. I go deep to find the answers. It’s my job. It’s yours too, as I recall. And you never had a problem with this kind of a confession before so, what’s this about?”_ _

__“You’re right, it is our jobs,” Barba said, not flinching or backing down as Sonny knew he wouldn’t. “But every time you go down into that hole, it’s harder to climb out of it. I just wonder if it’s worth the cost.”_ _

__It was on the tip of his tongue to say ‘Yes. Of course it is. It’s always worth it.’ But the words stuck a little in his throat, and Sonny paused. He swallowed hard and then nodded._ _

__“Yes,” he said, his voice strong and sure. “It’s worth it. The justice is worth it.”_ _

__Barba smiled. “Good answer. And made even better because you thought about it.”_ _

__Despite himself, Sonny felt relief and he shook his head, laughing a little. “All right, what is this? Your pro-bono work for the month? Counselling detectives back from the brink?”_ _

__Barba shrugged. “Well, I am selfless like that. I like to do my part.”_ _

__Sonny snorted, noticing that Barba managed to deflect actually answering Sonny’s question. “Yeah, well, I’ll take a drink next time.”_ _

__“What about this time?” Barba asked._ _

__Sonny once again felt the urge to breathe in and out for five, but for a whole new reason._ _

__“You lose a bet?” Sonny said before he could stop himself._ _

__Barba flashed a particular grin that Sonny loved (and yeah, sue him, he knew Barba’s grins); it was genuine but with a hint of mischief._ _

__“Hardly a decent opinion of yourself, detective,” Barba said, “if you think a person would have to be forced to spend time with you.”_ _

__“Not ‘a person’,” Sonny said. “You.”_ _

Was that a flush on Barba’s cheeks? _No, couldn’t be_ , Sonny thought. But as Barba walked past him, Sonny checked out his neck. Flush. Definitely a flush as well as goosebumps, holy shit. 

__“Well, I’m fairly singular, yes,” Barba said clearly trying to hide his reaction to Sonny. “But consider it more of a chance to depart some knowledge from someone older and wiser over a decent glass of your alcohol of choice.”_ _

__“Wiser, I’ll buy,” Sonny said. “Along with the second round, but shut up about the older crap. You’re hardly ready to collect Social Security, counselor. And sure, by the way.”_ _

__“Sure…” Barba looked at him._ _

__“Sure, let’s go get a drink.” Sonny opened the door for Barba. “You get the first round and then we’ll see where we end up.”_ _

“As long as it’s not _inter rusticos_ ,” Barba said moving through the door. 

“How about _in personam_ and _inter vivos_?” Sonny shot back. 

Barba paused and eyed him. “You know I figured you’d go for _in flagrante delicto_?” 

Sonny couldn’t help the blush in his cheeks, but he still managed, “Nah. Too easy.” He paused. “I don’t do _delicto_ until the third date, counselor.” 

__Barba’s eyebrows rose slowly as his mouth curved upwards. “Is that right, detective?”_ _

Sonny shrugged, face burning, but figured in for a penny, in for a pound, as he said, “ _Innuendo_ only on dates one and two.” 

__Another grin eased its way across Barba’s face and well, damn. Sonny didn’t know this grin; but he sure wanted to._ _

“ _Innuendo_ it is, detective,” Barba said before striding away. “My office. Seven pm." 

__Sonny blinked and said, somewhat belatedly, “Seven. I’ll be there.”_ _

__He watched Barba go and rubbed the back on his neck, taking a moment to figure out what the hell had just happened. How had he gone from going into the bathroom to get some equilibrium back to flirting via Latin with the man he'd been subtly (and not so subtly) crushing on. Eventually, he made his way back to his desk and, still preoccupied, he slumped into his chair._ _

__Rollins looked up from her desk. “You okay?”_ _

__“Huh,” Sonny said. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”_ _

__She nodded. “It was a good confession, Carisi.”_ _

__For a moment, Sonny was worried she meant about his comments regarding third dates to Barba, but remembered the case and nodded back. “Thanks.”_ _

__“Just you looked a little green afterwards,” she continued._ _

__Sonny winced remembering that slow descent into the dark parts of someone else. “Yeah,” he said. “Not exactly my favorite part of the job. But whatever gets the job done, right?”_ _

__“I used to think so,” Rollins said, staring into middle distance. “Now though? With Jesse? I’m not so sure.” She shrugged. “It’s nice to have someone who can help you find yourself again, you know?”_ _

__“Yeah,” Sonny said, thinking of Barba’s new grin that he’d added to his memory banks. “Yeah, I think I do.”_ _

__“I think you do, too,” she said and when Sonny glanced at her she grinned. “Better finish up that paperwork if you’re going to make it to Barba’s office by seven.”_ _

__“Aw, hell,” he said chuckling. “Shut up, Rollins.”_ _

__“Who knew Latin was such a turn on?” she added. “Or is that just a lawyer thing?”_ _

__“Christ, woman,” he said. “Did you hear everything?”_ _

__“Just the last bit,” she said outright laughing. “You do know the ladies’ room is next door? If you don’t want everyone to know that your kink is Latin legal terms, keep it in your pants the next time. Carpe your diem elsewhere.”_ _

__“You’re a terrible person, you know that,” he said laughing. “Now, let me work, will you?”_ _

__Rollins grinned again, but left him to it. Sonny stared down at the forms for a moment, then checked his watch. With a grin, he picked up his pen and made a mental note to look up some more Latin._ _


End file.
